The ‘862 and ‘829 patents are business method patents that cover providing a tax refund to a tax payer through debit cards, credit cards, or credit at a retailer. The patents also cover the ability to assign other governmental payments, social security payments for example, to creditors that in turn credit the funds to a tax payer via debit cards or credit cards. The complaint alleges that Jackson Hewitt’s ipower CashCard infringes on H&R Block’s two tax refund patents. The complaint seeks three times the actual damages because Jackson Hewitt’s conduct was allegedly intentional and willful.

PRACTICE NOTE: As of February 14, 2008, there are 63 issued patents that are classified by the US Patent & Trademark Office as “tax strategy” patents, with an additional 107 published applications. There have been discussions in Congress to ban tax strategy patents, but until there is a change in the law, tax advisors need to be aware of the tax patent landscape. Follow these steps in order to search for tax strategy patents by classification number: